Why study cyber security courses at Warwick University

December 16, 2016

The cyber security courses on offer at the University of Warwick are your pathway to industry-relevant skills and understanding

Cyber security is not simply about protecting the internet. As our world becomes ever more dependent upon digital systems, our vehicles, infrastructure, industrial controls, finances, and medical devices all exist within the cyber domain.

Warwick’s Cyber Security Centre is based in the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) department and brings together teaching and research excellence in a team highly experienced in intelligence and defence, cyber crime and law enforcement, finance and commercial environments, business strategy, computer science, engineering, digital forensics and security protocols. The Centre’s director, Professor Tim Watson, has extensive experience designing and delivering courses for public and private sector organisations, and has acted as a consultant for some of the largest global telecoms, power and oil companies.

“Our focus is on understanding the nature of the evolving cyber environment, and to protect the human experience within it. Our approach is a multi-disciplinary one, combining academics, government and industry experts who bring together both the technical and behavioural (culture, cognition and communication) aspects needed for transformative cyber security solutions,” says Professor Watson.

WMG is one of the largest academic departments at Warwick. It is a multidisciplinary, research-led department renowned for collaborative R&D with global companies, and for industry-relevant education. We offer a broad portfolio of Masters courses in the key areas of Management, Technology and Innovation, both as full-time 12-month MSc courses and part-time through our Professional and Executive Education route.

Cyber security courses designed to build skills

Within the Cyber Security Centre at WMG, our MSc in Cyber Security and Management and MSc in Cyber Security Engineering are provisionally GCHQ-certified, and are accredited by the Institute of Engineering and Technology. The courses are designed to give a clear understanding of the cyber security threat landscape, and to develop the skills to build and manage secure systems that will support the strategic deployment of cyber security within a business.

Our expert tutors bring their subjects to life by blending their academic knowledge with their experience in a variety of industry sectors, supporting students in applying what they learn back into the workplace or future career. The course benefits from extensive support from guest lecturers from companies such as IBM, HP, PwC, and UK government and law enforcement agencies.

Rebecca Faulkner, General Manager at Pharos Group Ltd has recently completed the MSc Cyber Security and Management.

“While other courses focus only on technical elements, the MSc at WMG brings in business and management too,” Faulkner explains. “There were a surprising number of experts from industry who came in to talk to us about what they do and the challenges they face. Every one of them was absolutely fascinating to listen to and what they said proved how relevant each module is to business. Having the chance to discuss things with them was one of the biggest positives for me. It helped me to understand exactly how what I was learning is applied in real situations.”

It is this mix of research-led teaching and real-world input from external speakers that helps prepare students not only to work in cyber security, but to be at, and contribute to, the forefront of this field.

‘A vital kit bag of practical tools’

This year, the Cyber Security Centre have teamed up with IBM to deliver a new module in Enterprise Cyber Security on the MSc programme. Students are trained to undertake key enterprise security functions, such as: persuasively articulating cyber security imperatives to key decision makers; critically evaluating the cyber security posture of an organisation; analysing an organisation’s identity access management policies; and critically analysing the cyber security consequences of the increasing connectedness of end-point devices and systems.

The team created content to particularly encourage students to look at cyber security from both a technical and a wider organisational perspective. Mark Buckwell, consulting and systems integration practice leader for IBM UK and Ireland, is heavily involved in the teaching.

“The Enterprise Cyber Security module was created to give students the opportunity to engage in architectural thinking in the design of enterprise IT security,” Buckwell says. “By understanding how security is designed into core business practice, participants now have a vital kit bag of practical tools and techniques to apply in the workplace.”

With as many as 1.5 million cyber security jobs worldwide expected to be unfilled by 2020, the low availability of professionals with specialised cyber skills is one of the biggest issues facing organisations looking to defend their core business systems against cyber attacks.

Securing your patch of cyberspace is challenging, requiring both technical insight into the security of your digital systems and devices, and also the management of the people who interact with them. The MSc courses at Warwick prepare students and professionals to design these systems, and to manage cyber security within an enterprise – from influencing the risk appetite of the board, to operational issues and managing firewall reconfiguration during a cyber attack.

At WMG, University of Warwick we offer the Masters programmes both as a 12 month full-time course and or as a 3 year part-time option through our Professional and Executive Education track.

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